But at 37 his career may finally be over

MADRID, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Madrid's Barajas airport openedall four runways and resumed normal operations on Sunday afterheavy snow grounded weekend flights, airports operator AENA saidon its website. Spanish media reported some delays on Sunday after thousandsof passengers were stranded at the airport due to cancellations. The international airport closed for five hours on Fridayafter one of the heaviest snowfalls in decades and was operatingat only half of its capacity for most of Saturday. Some 55,000 travellers suffered flight delays orcancellations between Friday and Saturday, El Pais said.

The bad weather in Spain, which like other parts of Europehas had an unusually cold winter, added to weeks of disruptionsin Spanish flag carrier Iberia's (IBLA.MC) services caused byindustrial action by pilots. Iberia said late on Saturday it had cancelled 544 flightssince Friday and put over 2,000 passengers in hotels as a resultof the conflict with its pilots and the bad weather. (Reporting by Inmaculada Sanz and Tracy Rucinski; editing byElizabeth Piper). The return of nine-year pro Mark Blount to Minnesota was probably not the best thing that has happened to his career.Only three seasons ago, Mark Blount was playing over 30 minutes a night and scoring 12 points plus collecting six rebounds for the T-wolves, but his agent seeing little opportunity for Mark to play for them now asked for a trade.The team said sure, and by the way, dont bother coming to camp either.Minnesota agreed to waive Blount if no trade deal could be found.So maybe Mark isnt exactly riding the pine.But with just under $8 million remaining on his deal this season, Mark isnt suffering financially as he watches the games on TV..

Oh how the mighty have fallen.The once sure-fire high lottery pick Adam Morrison isnt expect to see much time with the Lakers this season.The third overall pick in 2006 now finds himself buried behind veteran players on a very deep Lakers team that has little time to develop prospects.So far this season, Morrison has gotten into about half the Lakers games for an average of six minutes each time.It will be tough for Morrison to get much more than mop-up duties unless the Lakers run into serious injury concerns.Adam Morrison will just have to take comfort in his $5.25 million salary.. The once promising career of six-year pro Brian Cook seems to have hit some bumps over the past couple of years.This year in injury ridden Houston, Cook has only managed to get into half the games for a grand total of eight minutes played.His best performance being a 0-2 with a rebound and a turnover in three minutes against the Grizzlies.With only one year and $3.5 million on his contract, Houston can afford to keep Cook as insurance.But that isnt doing much to help keep Cook in the NBA after this season.. This well-known 37-year-old, 14-year veteran may finally be running out of steam.Initially considered a starter during the preseason, Kurt Thomas most recent games have been DNP-CD.So far this season, Thomas has played in just three games for a total of 24 minutes.With $3.8 million left on his contract, Thomas may not be going anywhere.But at 37, his career may finally be over.. This 32-year-old, 10 year pro was coming off knee surgery from last season when he was included in the four team deal that saw Hedo Turkoglu go to Toronto, and Shawn Marion head to Dallas.Toronto then traded him to Golden State for Marco Belinelli in a move that could only be described as Golden State dumping a contract.Say thank you to Nellie Raptors!Not surprisingly George is now listed as out indefinitely with a knee injury by Golden State, so he may never get to actually warm the bench.More likely hell just stare longingly it at.George will be collecting his $1.6 million contract this season.If he never plays for the Warriors, no one will be surprised.. Juan Howard, the 15-year NBA veteran whose professional career really ended about two seasons ago, signed a one-year veterans minimum deal with Portland in the off-season.Potentially brought in to provide veteran leadership, there was never really much room for Howard on Portlands roster barring injury.Howard did contribute limited minutes in two games this season. But for the most part, he has been a DNP-CD.At 36-years of age, Howard is not going to take minutes from any of the much younger Trailblazer big men.. The 39-year-old Lindsay Hunter is entering his 17th NBA season.A true veteran back-up point guard, one would have to consider Hunter more like an assistance coach to Chicagos sophomore guard Derrick Rose than a back-up player.The veteran minimum contract of $1.3 million may not seem like a lot in NBA terms, but it is a lot for an assistant coach.Hunter has played seven minutes in one game so far this season.He is not expected to play many more as he collects that nice retirement gift from the Bulls.(Toronto Raptor fans may remember a similar situation with Darrick Martin a couple of seasons ago).